This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Did you know that just one pair of shoes given to a child opens the door to share health, education, opportunity, and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world? Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls has been meeting this need for 25 years, providing more than 5 million pairs of shoes to children in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. That's over 5 million opportunities to put a smile on a child's face and show the love of Christ to boys and girls living in desperate situations. Many times, these shoes introduce families to Christ-centered programs, helping them rise above poverty and achieve their God-given potential.
You can make that difference now. Join Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls in changing the lives of children across the world through the gift of shoes. Go to GiveShoesToday.org and give to the special organization. That's GiveShoesToday.org. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
Galatians 6, verse 9. Hi, I'm Rob West. One Christian ministry has been doing good for nearly 150 years and shows zero signs of growing weary. Scott Collins joins us today to talk about Buckner International and its ongoing efforts to support foster care, adoption, and family outreach. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
This is Faith and Finance – biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Scott Collins to the program. Scott is Senior Vice President of Communications at Buckner International, an underwriter of this program. And Scott, it's great to have you here with us. Thanks, Rob.
What a joy to be with you and to share some time together. Scott, last month we reported on Buckner's Shoes for Orphan Souls program that, just like it sounds, provides shoes for at-risk kids around the world. But that's just one of many great ministry efforts of Buckner International. So we'd love for you to give us a brief history of Buckner, which actually started out in 1879, right? That's right.
So yes, this is our 145th anniversary, if you can believe it. We were founded by a pastor named R.C. Buckner, who moved to Texas, partly for health reasons. But we believe God used that move to really enlighten him to the needs of widows and orphans, James 1-27, in a post-Civil War era. He was a visionary. He was also a tremendous Christian businessman, really, running his ministry in a very efficient way. He started off with a vision from God to begin an orphan's home in Texas. And he went to the lay people of Texas, particularly deacons, and organized the deacons to help get behind this effort, believing that that was a job that Christ had commissioned deacons to do. And he eventually passed a hat. And out of that, they collected $27 to start the effort.
He launched it. They hired him. They formed a board. And then April 9th of 1879, they officially filed papers with the state of Texas. And then the first three orphan children were welcomed to Buckner Orphan's Home in December of 1879. So a long history there.
Yeah, it sure is. Well, let's fast forward to today. Give us an overview of what Buckner International is doing. We have held tight to our biblical principles.
People ask, have you lasted 145 years? And my answer has always been we've never had mission drift. We know who we are. Our mission is to follow the example of Jesus by serving vulnerable children, families and senior adults.
And so today that takes different forms. We work to protect children. We work to strengthen families.
We want to transform generations. And then one of the things we do is we serve seniors. We offer foster care and adoption for children and for families. It's been a tremendous part of our ministry really from the beginning, 145 years ago. But we also work in vulnerable areas to strengthen families through the Buckner Family Hope Center.
And then several years ago, we started a program. We asked ourselves, what could we do to ensure that children never have to be taken from a home where God placed them to begin with? So we do family strengthening programs. And one of those particularly works with single parents where they come and live with us. And we help them get an education while caring for their children. We teach them classes like faith and finance, actually. And we also provide Christian counseling and Bible study while they work to get a college degree. And then, of course, a key area for us is serving seniors. You know, James 127 includes the widows as well. So we work hard to serve seniors through senior living communities throughout the state of Texas.
Well, you all have a lot going on. And of course, the real goal of all of this work is to lead people to Christ. How is the Lord using Buckner in this way, Scott? Last year alone, we saw over 275 people accept Christ through the ministries we do.
In many years, it's more than that, close to 400. So just through the ministry we do of being the hands and feet of Jesus is a way to introduce them to Christ. That's powerful. Obviously, our listeners, I imagine, are going to want to learn more or get involved in this work. And how can they help you in these efforts?
Obviously, our website, buckner.org, and they can click on donate. And there are opportunities there to support our work. Excellent. We're grateful for our partnership. And thanks for your time today, Scott. Thanks, Rob. All right, folks, if you want to learn more, head to buckner.org. That's buckner.org. Click donate and learn more about the incredible ministry opportunities taking place every day.
That was Scott Collins, vice president for communications at Buckner International, a truly great ministry doing good all around the world. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. Stick around.
We'll be right back. If you enjoy this radio program, you're going to love all of the many different resources waiting for you at faithfi.com and the Faithfi app. You'll find powerful wisdom, free podcasts, articles, videos, and more from leading voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West.
Grow in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians striving to be good and faithful stewards at faithfi.com or by downloading the Faithfi app. Did you know the average person walks nearly 2000 miles a year? Now think about the millions of children around the world who risk disease and miss out on opportunities simply because they walk those 2000 miles without a decent pair of shoes. Around the world, Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls provides access to health, education, hope, and opportunity through the gift of shoes.
Visit GiveShoesToday.org and find out how you can provide shoes for a child right now. Well, I'm so glad you're along with us today on faith and finance. We've got some lines open today, although the calls are coming in quickly.
The lines are filling. We'd love to hear from you though. So call right now with your questions on anything financial. The number is 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. We'd like to dive into whatever you're thinking about in your financial life, help you process it through the lens of Scripture, and make a great decision so you can move forward with confidence. We're going to begin today in Mason City, Iowa with Diana.
Go right ahead. Yes, thank you, Rob, for taking my call. But we have some questions here about putting beneficiaries on our properties and other financial things. And we were wondering, especially about our home deed that we have, do we need a lawyer to draw up another deed lifting our transfer on death beneficiaries on our deeds? Yeah, is this for a home that you own in the state of Iowa? Yes, it is a home we have here in the state of Iowa, and we also have a rental property.
Okay. Yeah, unfortunately, the state of Iowa does not allow transfer on death deeds. And so that's not going to be an option. So you've got a couple of options here because you can't add a beneficiary on the deed of a home. The closest thing is what's called a beneficiary deed or a transfer on death deed, but those are not available in Iowa. So if you're trying to avoid probate, then you would want to have a trust, a revocable trust drawn up that will transfer ownership of your property to your heirs outside of the probate process, meaning it can happen immediately upon your death. It could even happen prior to your death if you were incapacitated based on the, you know, the provisions of the trust itself, you would name a trustee and that person would facilitate the transfer on a timely basis. It's going to cost you somewhere between fifteen hundred and twenty five hundred dollars typically to to put that trust together. But it will ensure that you will bypass the probate court with regard to the transfer of the property. You know, beyond that, you know, you certainly could use just a basic will, although you are going to have to wait for the probate process to take place, which can happen in weeks or a few months. If it's contested, it could be longer than that. There will be some court costs related to that as well. But those are really your options. OK, so if we would have it in our will, that would be sufficient then to be transferred over?
Oh, absolutely. It would just go through the probate court. So you would name a personal representative. They would petition the court. That would start the process.
If it's uncontested and fairly simple, it can move relatively quickly. They would issue a court order and then your personal representative would take care of transferring the assets. You know, the heirs would then be able to use that court order to get the deed transferred over to their name.
It'll take a little time and a little expense, but absolutely a will will suffice. OK, very good. That will answer our question here.
OK, very good. Thank you for calling today, Diana. We appreciate it. We've got four lines open.
Eight hundred five two five seven thousand. You can call right now. Chattanooga, Tennessee is where we're headed next. Hi, Bill. Good to have you, sir. Go ahead.
Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. I have a fiance that is 60 years old and her father just passed away a couple of months ago and he left her an IRA annuity. And it's about fifty two thousand dollars. And she is in Chapter 13 bankruptcy and has been in it a couple of years. And it's a five year repayment plan.
From what I understand, this annuity is exempt from the creditors on the bankruptcy. Her bankruptcy attorney, she's emailed and called and she's not got any response back. And she's asking me these questions.
What should she do? All right. And so that's the first part of the question, whether if, you know, if a beneficiary of an IRA annuity, if that's exempt from Chapter 13. The second part is when her father's probate gets wrapped up, she's going to probably have a couple of hundred thousand dollars or more for me. And at that time, I'm pretty sure she's going to have to pay off the bankruptcy and then and that's fine. But then there's going to be some left over.
And I kind of would like to know how to direct her what to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. Social security and disability and receives a pension. OK, very good.
Well, thanks for that background, Bill. I am not an attorney. So this would be a great question to ask her bankruptcy attorney. But what I will say is just in general, my understanding is that, of course, IRAs typically are exempt from bankruptcy, but that does not translate to inherited IRAs. They do not qualify for the same protection, which means they would be available to be attached by the court for repayment of the bankruptcy. And then separate from that, I would say, is just kind of the biblical perspective that just says, regardless of what the court is going to require or not require, what is my responsibility? Even though I was using the legal protection of the bankruptcy, you know, the Bible is very clear the wicked borrows and does not repay. And so I think there should be, whether it's a chapter seven, chapter 13, the reason you got into the bankruptcy in the first place, a desire to repay as agreed, perhaps a negotiated repayment that's lower, you know, or some other agreed upon repayment. But I think that should be our goal as God's people. But I think to answer your question, number one, check with your attorney.
But just in general, I would agree with you that my understanding is the same as yours, that inherited IRAs do not qualify for that protection. Now, to the second part of your question, you said, OK, let's say she fully satisfies and repays out of the proceeds of what she receives from the inheritance. But she has something left over. Where do I go with that?
Let's start there. So let's say the bankruptcy is taken care of. At that point, what would she have in the way of assets and liabilities?
I would say at least three hundred thousand. There might be more. OK, so that would be the remainder of the inheritance that she's receiving, about three hundred grand, right? Yeah, after the bankruptcy is paid off.
Yes. OK. And would there be any other debt that was outside of the bankruptcy that she has? Just her mortgage, her home mortgage. And she had asked whether I thought it was a good idea to pay it off.
And I actually kind of do think it is a good idea. Well, after you all get married, where are you going to live? Well, I have a house and she has a house, so more than likely we'll be selling a house. OK, but you're not sure which one yet?
Probably be selling hers because mine is larger and so probably hers. And I would definitely want the bankruptcy paid off before I did anything like that. Yeah. And then are you all planning to join your finances from that point forward?
Yes. OK, good. Well, I mean, I think, you know, the good news is you can get the bankruptcy satisfied. You get her home sold at the right time. You've got the proceeds after the mortgage is paid. And now you're kind of starting with a blank slate.
I think starting with some premarital counseling, starting with understanding each of your money backgrounds and how you bring that to the marriage and then how together as one flesh you move forward, setting God-given goals for lifestyle, for accumulation, for the retirement season of life, for your giving, and then order your finances in such a way that matches up with that because money is a tool to accomplish those purposes. I'd also connect with a certified kingdom advisor at FaithFi.com. But hopefully that gives you some thoughts there, Bill. Folks, this is Faith and Finance. We're only halfway through the program.
Still have a lot of ground to cover. If you have a financial question, call right now, 800-525-7000. By the way, if you'd like to support our work, a gift of twenty dollars or more, we'll send you a copy of our new study, Rich Toward God, at FaithFi.com.
We'll be right back. And share what you're learning about money and investing. So why don't you grab your phone right now and download the FaithFi app? FaithFi is grateful for support from one ascent. One Ascent believes that your values inspire why you invest and how they can inspire how you invest. One Ascent's goal is to provide solutions designed for every need and invest in businesses that bless the people and places God has made. They want to help investors do well by doing good to explore a new way of investing that aligns with your values.
More information is available at one ascent dot com and by clicking Analyze My Investments. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. This is the program where we apply biblical wisdom to your financial decisions and choices. Hey, some emails. These come in regularly at AskRob at FaithFi.com. If you've got an email question, send it along.
Again, AskRob at FaithFi.com. We will be headed back to the phones here in a moment. We've got a few lines open.
Eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand. Paulette writes, I have two private student loans that total seventy thousand dollars and have interest rates of nine and a half percent and ten and a half percent. Would it be wise to try to get a lower interest personal loan or to refinance the existing loans?
And yes, I mean, I think you ought to look at it. You're likely just based on where rates are at right now. Paulette, not going to be in a position to see those overall rates come down just given the rates that you say you have. I mean, the only time you would probably be looking at refinancing for a lower rate is if one of two of the things happen. Number one, you had an above market rate because you had poor credit and you've been able over time to rectify that. You've seen your credit score rise and therefore you're now able to secure a rate lower than you had at the time. That would be a time to consider or if rates have moved considerably lower. For instance, if we saw a one and a half to two percent decline in the Fed funds rate, which drives all the other rates, student loan rates and mortgage rates, car loan rates. If we saw a decline of one and a half to two percent that translated into a similar decline for student loan rates, that might be the time to say, OK, I might want to look at refinancing, if you will, these private student loans of seventy thousand. Could you because you could save a lot of interest there over time. Now, I will say that if you have federal loans, you need to be careful about refinancing them with private loans. Paulette's situation, she already has private loans, and so she's not going to make a change here. But if you are starting with federal loans, you're going to want to be careful. And I would actually advise against refinancing them with private loans simply because the federal loans have certain advantages, particularly related to the income based repayment options. So if you got into a difficult spot and you were unable to pay the full payment, the income based repayment options based on that are offered through the federal student program would allow you to drop that payment down to weather that storm until your income is higher. And as soon as you go from federal to private, you lose that ability to do that.
So just be on your guard there. This one from Don. He said two years ago, I invested ten thousand dollars in I bonds specifically for my daughter's college since the interest rates have dropped below five percent. Is there another investment that I could transfer the I bond money to that would have a better return? I've already maxed out my 529 contribution for this year.
Don, it's a great question. I love the 529. I'm thrilled to hear you max that out.
I would look at what you put in there and make sure you have, in fact, maxed it out. You can put up to eighteen thousand dollars per beneficiary before you'd need to file the IRS form 709. And then, you know, for a married couple, you can put in thirty six thousand without filing form 709. So you really could put in even more than that if you're willing to fill out the 709 just because you wouldn't have to pay taxes on it. It would just eat away at your lifetime estate exemption of thirteen million dollars. So you probably have quite a bit more room there, frankly, as much as you want that you could put into that 529. But if you were looking for something outside of the 529 plan and let's say she has less than five years, certainly less than three years before she's going to college, this might be the time just to take advantage of some of these higher CD rates that we're experiencing right now. I mean, you can get four and a half or five percent on your money, essentially guaranteed with FDIC insurance.
So that could be another alternative to get a reasonable rate of return, especially given what might be a relatively short time horizon. So thanks for writing to us again. You have a question. Send it along. Ask Rob at Faithfi.com.
Orlando, Florida is where Deborah is waiting patiently. Go ahead. Hello, Rob. Thank you so much. And we appreciate your mission.
You're wonderful. I have a strange question. My financial advisor is up north because I used to live up in the northern part of the United States. Now I'm in Florida and I was wondering, is there a reason why I should transfer my money management down to Florida? And if I do transfer it down here so I have the convenience of being able to walk into an office, is there any problem with that? Yeah. You know, in the process of transferring, are there things I should be aware of?
Yeah, great. Deborah, thank you for that question and also for your kind remarks about the program. Listen, I can totally understand why you'd want somebody face to face, and I think that really needs to be the driver. Is there a reason you shouldn't have an advisor, you know, that's local? No, you could certainly have an advisor in another state. And as long as you can make that work for you in terms of the communication, you're comfortable meeting with your advisor over Zoom and maybe only go in once a year.
If you ever get that back to that part of the country to visit family or friends, that's fine. And, you know, there's not any benefit other than if you really value this idea that I could walk into the office a few times a year, sit down face to face, and I would just really appreciate that, then I'd say there's no reason not to make that change. What would be the hardest part about it? Frankly, it'd probably be the conversation.
And here's why. You know, typically with our advisor, that history goes back a long way. We've developed a friendship and nobody likes to have a hard conversation about the fact that you're going to pull the business away from them and put it somewhere else.
That shouldn't stop you, but that's probably going to be the hardest part because the rest of it's fairly seamless. You know, once you decided on your new advisor and then they open the accounts in the same titles, they would submit through what's called the ACAT system, A-C-A-T, and those assets would just, they'd be notified. And I'd talk to the advisor beforehand. As an advisor, the last thing you want is just to get some notice without hearing from the client that the assets are transferring out. But once you've had the conversation, the assets would just journal right over to that new account, and then that new advisor would be off to the races in terms of how he or she would then rebuild the portfolio with your goals and objectives in mind. So it really comes down to, number one, do you really value that face-to-face interaction?
And if so, I think you need to start the search for your next advisor, and perhaps that's where the CKA designation could help. And then once you've made the decision, I would just encourage you to schedule some time with the advisor up north and just let that advisor know why you're making the change. Thank you. That's very wise. And it's a relief to know that there's no penalty for transferring funds or anything else. No, I mean, if there's any kind of transfer fee, it should be very nominal.
So I wouldn't worry about that whatsoever. But we appreciate your call today. Call anytime. May the Lord bless you.
Well, that's going to do it for us today. I hope you found something helpful and encouraging today. But above all else, I hope you were encouraged to go back to God's Word. You know, in our role in managing God's money, we always need to be reminded that God owns it all, we're stewards, and money is a tool to accomplish God's purposes. So as stewards, we have to understand the heart of the master. We find that in Scripture. A big thanks to my team today, Taylor, Devin, and Pat. And we'll see you next time right here on Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.
